Comfort
by threelittlebirds94
Summary: SPOILERS for chapter 363-364 of the manga! After Ukitake is hurt, Shunsui doesn't know what to say to him...


Shunsui grabbed his captain's haori , threw it towards his opponent and yelled: "White" . All of a sudden, the primera espada had cuts all over his body and fell to the ground. Starrk's whole life flashed in front of his eyes, his heart stopped beating. Shunsui, now dressed as an ordinary shinigami (no longer wearing his pink, nor his captain's haori, not even his hat) glanced at the lifeless arrancar. He did not feel relieved or pleased, no. Shunsui would never feel that way after having just committed murder, even if it was his enemy.

Yamamoto had watched everything that Shunsui had just done. He closed his eyes (like always), flash-stepped next to Kyouraku-taichou and put one hand on his shoulder. The man turned around roughly and exclaimed: "Ah! Yama-jii , you startled me! What are you doing here?" .The long bearded man opened his eyes (for once), intensely looked at Shunsui and said with and angry tone adding up to his already harsh old voice: "What are _you_ doing here? You've finished here already! Go!". Kyouraku blinked, only the confused look on his face was asking the captain-commander what he was talking about. The old man lost his temper and screamed: "Your best friend, damn it! Jushiro! Don't you remember he was hurt?". No one said anything for a minute and then Shunsui said, pretty upset: "Of _course_ I remember, Yama-jii…".The silence repeated itself, then Shunsui proceeded: "I can feel he's not doing well. I know it sounds arrogant, but having a last chance of talking to me is probably one of the only things that's keeping him going right now. Once he's had that chance…If I go talk to him, I take away that will to live. He'd be satisfied with the circumstances and let go. If he does that, he doesn't stand a chance…". Yamamoto had his eyes wide open (OMFG, no way!) impressed and embarrassed."It's killing me but I have to wait for Unohana's arrival before I can go see him.". The akward silence repeated itself once again, but this time Yamamoto broke it saying: "What if his will abandons him early?" Shunsui abruptly looked at his former teacher, turning his entire body towards the old man. He stayed like that for a couple of seconds, his eyes wide open, shocked, troubled. Finally, he shifted back to his original position, his arms by his side, making a strong fist and slightly looking down.

"Are my eyes open? They feel like they are. Then why aren't I seeing the sky above me, or whatever it is I should be seeing right now? Why am I seeing this? Myself, memories, my past… I don't understand, is this a dream? Whatever it is, for some reason I don't feel a thing. It's peaceful, quiet, relaxing… Not even my usual, everyday pain is present. It feels good…maybe it should stay like this. My suffering would be over, at last…Right now; not doing anything will give me peace….heh, that's easy enough. I'm sorry Kyouraku, everyone…" Ukitake smiled happily and was just ready to let go when he heard a silent voice: "Hey...Hey, Ukitake, wake up!" there was fear in Shunsui's voice, not enough confidence to make it clearly to Ukitake's ear. Jushiro ignored the voice, thinking it was just a subject of his imagination. "WAKE UP! Open your eyes and wake up! Don't give up, please…don't die…" Still no response, Kyouraku inhaled and screamed with all the strength he could gather and all the air in his lungs: "WAKE UP!". Jushiro slowly opened his eyes, still not entirely conscious. With his watery eyes he could now see the blurry image of the sky. The unbearable pain, that had been holding itself back until then, came rushing through his body. He began breathing heavily. WonderWeiss's attack had damaged one of his lungs. Now, breathing was one of the hardest things in the world to do for him. Shunsui had never been more relieved in his life, but he had just put his friend in extreme suffering: "Breathe! Slowly. Try to regain your breath." Ukitake was almost crying and thought he was really going to die this time, but not in the quiet, peaceful way he had just intended. He followed his friend's advice and tried to regain his breath. He was so busy trying to make the best out of this agonizing pain, he had not noticed until then that Shunsui had tears in his eyes. Shunsui was looking away, hands made fists and they were resting on his knees. Jushiro made the hard effort to reach out his hand and place on Shunsui's. Kyouraku was startled and looked at Jushiro wiping away his tears. Another effort was made and nearly incomprehensible words came out of Ukitake's mouth: "W-why…are you…crying?" he said worried. Kyouraku smiled and said: "I'm not crying…anymore."He gasped and proceed "I just got a taste of what it'd be like to lose you." Ukitake was astonished and began crying himself. The 8th squad captain grabbed his best friend's hand, held it strongly and gasped: "Stay with me, don't ever die."


End file.
